Sunday, February 13, 2011

Stylish, creepy remake of Swedish film that has its own spooky vibe,

It's rare that a remake equals the original but whether or not you're more of a fan of the original movie "Let The Right One In" or the remake, both films offer a unique horror film about Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee from "The Road")who finds himself bullied, alienated from his peers and his own family as he is caught in the crossfire of divorce. He befriends a new girl named Abby (Chloe Grace Moretz in a marvelous performance)who is a vampire and while Owen suspects something is off with the girl he bonds with her immediately inspite of the hositility of her "father" (Richard Jenkins of "The Visitor" and "Six Feet Under" fame). There's not a huge deviation in the basic plot but the interpretation and portrayal of the characters brings a different element to the story.

Perfectly cast, "Let Me In" captures the odd vibe of the original film while adding its own textures. Director Matt Reeves in adapting the novel and original screenplay turns the story some what on its head by telling it in flashback form. Set during the certainty of the Reagan presidency in the 1980's, "Let Me In" also nicely captures the atmosphere of innocence and cynicism that existed pre-9/11.

"Let Me In" is a nice returnt to form of former horror stalwart Hammer Films.

"Let Me In" receives a marvelously creepy looking home video transfer. Where the image is soft it was an intentional choice and, for the most part, the images are crystal clear and sharp as a vampire's tooth.
There are also some really cool extras for fans who like those sort of things including a commentary by director Reeves who doesn't shy away from discussing the marvelous original film. Reeves discusses differences between the two films including scenes he included from the original novel that didn't appear in the original Swedish film[[ASIN:B001MYIXAW Let the Right One In [Blu-ray]]].

We get a number of very good featurettes including a making-of, visual effects and car crash sequence featurette that give us plenty of behind-the-scenes info. We also get a picture-in-picture "dissection" of the movie including footage exclusive to this feature as well as some recycled footage from other featurettes. We also get deleted scenes including the scene that played on the internet and was in some trailers of Abby being turned into a vampire. This last deleted scene is presented in HD but most are in SD.

The Swedish original is a marvelously creepy mixture of character study and horror film. Although the remake is less subtle in some ways than the original film, director Matt Reeves ("Cloverfield") expands on the characters in some unique and subtle ways missing from the original film as well. Recommended.